On 10 August 1949, after having chaired the inaugural sitting of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, Edouard Herriot, oldest member and Honorary President, hands over the chair to the Belgian Paul-Henri Spaak, newly elected President.

On 12 August 1949, the correspondent for the British weekly magazine The New Statesman and Nation describes the numerous debates surrounding the appointment of the first Vice- President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe and speculates on the future activities of this Parliamentary Assembly.

‘The Council of Europe …No forecasts. I declare the first sitting open ... I hereby close the final sitting.’ In August 1949, the German satirical magazine Der Tintenfisch speculates on the effectiveness of the new European institution.

On 28 August 1949, the Brussels newspaper Le Phare Dimanche emphasises the positive role that the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe could play in Germany’s integration into Western Europe.

On 5 September 1949, referring to the numerous criticisms directed at the Council of Europe, La Gazette de Lausanne emphasises the role and activities of this newly founded European organisation and speculates on the future of the OEEC.

In October 1949, the Swiss writer and federalist activist, Denis de Rougemont, comments on the inaugural meeting of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and considers the debates between federalists and unionists on the future of the European continent.

On 11 August 1950, Sean MacBride, Vice President of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and Member of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, outlines to the Consultative Assembly delegates the respective roles of MPs and national governments in the building of a united Europe.

On 7 August 1950, the Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool reports on the first activities of the Council of Europe and describes the discussions over Germany’s place within the European Parliamentary Assembly.

In August 1950, Paul-Henri Spaak, President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, Paul Reynaud, Winston Churchill and Robert Schuman attend the Assembly’s second sitting, held in Strasbourg.

On 3 December 1950, the Brussels weekly newspaper Le Phare Dimanche reviews the work of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe on issues relating to European federalism, the Schuman Plan and the possible creation of a European army.

On 10 January 1951, the Dutch journal Internationale Spectator comments on the activities of the Council of Europe and speculates on whether the organisation has the means to establish federalist structures in Europe.

‘… if you carry on going nowhere like that, you Father Christmases! …*' On 11 December 1951, given the United Kingdom's refusal to take part in the Schuman Plan, and disappointed at the ineffectiveness of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in furthering the European unification process, Paul-Henri Spaak resigns from his post as President of the Consultative Assembly. * Editor’s note: We have put the words ‘Father Christmases’ into Mr Spaak’s mouth to add a touch of Christmas spirit to our front page.

In 1952, Robert Boothby, a Conservative Member of the House of Commons and British delegate to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, publishes an article in the French magazine Notre Europe on the United Kingdom’s European policy.

‘The ECSC is overtaking the COUNCIL OF EUROPE. “Yeees — it is hardly surprising when force is used!!!”’ In May 1953, the German cartoonist, Stig, contrasts the lack of action taken by the Council of Europe with the real achievements and dynamism of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

The activities of the Council of Europe

In December 1960, Polys Modinos, Human Rights Director at the Council of Europe and Registrar at the European Court of Human Rights, outlines in Le Monde diplomatique the legal and political scope of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed in Rome on 4 November 1950.

List of the Conventions and Agreements, which are part of the European Treaty Series (ETS), opened to the member States of the Council of Europe and, where appropriate, to European non-member States, to non-European non-member States and to the European Community.

In this interview, Paul Collowald, former journalist for the daily newspaper Le Nouvel Alsacien and former correspondent on European issues for the daily newspaper Le Monde in Alsace, describes the activities of the Information and Press Service of the Council of Europe under the direction, from 1949 onwards, of the Belgian journalist Paul M. G. Lévy.

The Eden Plan

On 19 March 1952, the United Kingdom submits to the Council of Europe an aide-mémoire which proposes that political authority over the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Defence Community (EDC) be given to the Council of Europe.

On 19 March 1952, Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary, submits to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe a plan which provides for the Council of Europe to be given political authority over the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Defence Community (EDC).

On 21 March 1952, the General Affairs Committee of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe welcomes the United Kingdom’s proposal that the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the future European Defence Community (EDC) and any other specialised European institutions which might be established should operate under the aegis of the Council of Europe.

On 17 April 1952, the British Government submits to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe a memorandum on the means whereby the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the future European Defence Community (EDC) and any other specialised European institutions which might be established might operate under the aegis of the Council of Europe.

On 16 and 17 May 1952, the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe debates British proposals whereby the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the future European Defence Community (EDC) and any other specialised European institutions which might be established would operate under the aegis of the Council of Europe (Eden Plan).

On 30 May 1952, the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe adopts a resolution on the British proposals for the establishment of an organic link between the Council of Europe and the Communities of the Six.

In 1952, Julian Amery, a Conservative MP and British delegate to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, summarises the origins and objectives of the Eden Plan designed to confer on the Council of Europe political authority over the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and over the European Defence Community (EDC).

In 1952, Guy Mollet, Chairman of the Socialist Intergroup in the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, welcomes the proposals set out in the Eden Plan, since he regards them as a positive development in the United Kingdom’s attitude to European affairs.

In 1952, Patrick Gordon-Walker, a Labour MP and British delegate to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, sets out in the French magazine Notre Europe the Labour Party’s position on European issues.

On 15 September 1952, addressing the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary, outlines his plan for the Council of Europe to be given political authority to monitor the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Defence Community (EDC).

On 17 September 1952, the French daily newspaper Le Monde considers the proposals put forward by Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary, to associate the Six with the other member States of the Council of Europe.

On 30 September 1952, in his closing address to the fourth session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Frenchman, François de Menthon, President of the Assembly, summarises the work undertaken by the European Members.

The European Convention on Human Rights

Opened for signature by the member States of the Council of Europe in Rome on 4 November 1950, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms enters into force on 3 September 1953.

Open for signature in Paris on 20 March 1952 by the members of the Council of Europe that are signatories of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Protocol enters into force on 18 May 1954.

Signing in Rome, on 4 November 1950, of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the first international legal instrument to guarantee the protection of human rights.

On 4 November 1950, in Rome, the representatives of the Member States of the Council of Europe sign the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which was inspired, in particular, by the work of the pro-European movements that attended the Congress of Europe in The Hague in May 1948.